RPGs as Language Lessons

 There are lots of stories out there about using RPGs in the classroom. I too am a teacher. In particular I teach EFL in South Korea. One of my classes is a group of middle schoolers. Their moms simply want them to keep their interest in English, and to continue to use it. Basically, I have the greenlight to just play games with them for 2 hours a week.

Often during our lessons the more dominant students run the class, and the lower level, passive students just listen. When I bring in an RPG, everyone gets a turn, and even the passive students will attempt to express their intentions and to describe their actions.

For this class, I've been teaching them for nearly a year. During this time, they have been my playtesters for a myriad of my games. We also ran Kids on Bikes, which was a very cool story. That system does a lot of things right for one-shots. But we found it difficult to keep it going as a longer game.

So this time, I am taking a reconsideration of a basic skill test, throwing it together with aspect-n-move abilities, and seeing what sticks.

Base Mechanics

Roll a d12. If you beat the skill's TN you succeed, else you fail. Your Skills have TNs based on your points invested. 11 - 1~4.

Backgrounds give you extra dice to roll.  This can be super useful to gain more successes for better results.

1s give the GM Plot points.

Give a stress to a friend to reroll.

Stress increases your TN by 1 each.

Spend stress to activate an ability, spend extra stress for extra effect.

Ability starts with cost of 3.

End of session 3 points to invest somewhere in your character (increase skills, lower costs, new ability).

The hope is to have something that will be quick to resolve without too much explanation.

Setting

I'm thinking of doing something that is silly/spooky. Maybe mixing Last Kids on Earth with Tales from the Floating Vagabond. I'm thinking they appear in a dinner, which hosts a mish-mash of different setting cliches. The Cafe has cycles, during which the brave residents can go out to score supplies, and new residents may come join the current cast.

This is a story I still need to flesh out.